Day 202 – July 21, 2010 :: Play That Funky Music

After this week’s sax lesson, Matthew graduated to being able to practice with the full horn. He was so excited. He’s really enjoying it, and loves to show off, “freestylin’”. :)

Day 201 – July 20, 2010 :: Tent Time

Kaylee loves playing in this little popup tent. We initially received it as a baby gift when Matthew was born, the idea being that it could be used as shade for the baby to nap outside. We never really did that, but it’s still gotten plenty of use over the years.

Yes, Kaylee is in the tent sideways – the yellow part is supposed to be on top. She’s sitting on the “door” side.

It’s a little bit better fit when upright…

And, of course, if sitting is too cramped, she can always lay down. LOL

Day 200 – July 19, 2010 :: From the Neck Up

Matthew in his room, practicing with his sax… well, part of it. For his initial lessons, his instructor had him practicing blowing through just the upper part.

Day 199 – July 18, 2010 :: Jenga

Kaylee pulled out the Jenga game for us to play. We hadn’t done it in ages.

Mark and Kaylee and I played.

The game went on quite a long time. Matthew had missed the beginning, but then came over to watch.

Testing for loose blocks.

The end is near…

I took almost 100 pictures during the 30-minute game, except during my turns which I found was just too awkward. I was really hoping to catch that big collapse, but when the time came, it startled me so much that I forgot to shoot! LOL So the above shot is the last one; she knocked it down on that turn.

Kaylee had wanted to quit halfway through. I think, for us, Jenga is just too stressful of a game.  That’s probably why we hadn’t played in so long.  I suspect it will stay in the game closet again for quite a while. ;)

Day 198 – July 17, 2010 :: Game Day

Mark had some friends over for D&D. One of them brought his son to hang out with Matthew. When that happens, we suspend the time limit on computer/TV time and just let the kids play.  They took full advantage. ;)

The boys were mostly on the X-Box.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “dude” that many times in one day. They almost never call each other by name; it’s always “Dude”.

Kaylee commandeered the laptop for the day.  The boys did come and look at something she was doing at one point, but mostly they ignore each other.  I’m good with that.  It’s quieter.  ;)

Day 197 – July 16, 2010 :: Party Like an Animal

Kaylee decided to have a birthday party for her stuffed cow. She missed his “birthday” (the anniversary of the day she won him from the crane game) by a week or so, but decided to celebrate anyway.

The guest of honor.

All the guests had some sort of party accessory and their own toys to play with.

The hostess attending to the guests on the lower level.

Too bad none of the guests helped her with the cleanup afterwards. ;)

Day 196 - July 15, 2010 :: Insulation Insanity

Step 1: List a bag off the stacks and open it into wheelbarrow.

Step 2: Break up insulation. Matthew was not allowed to karate chop them anymore after he accidentally karate chopped my wrist. :b

Step 3: Load hopper. Sweat. A lot. Mark is in the attic on the other end of that green hose.

Step 4: Take break to breathe, drink water, and groan in agony. These shots were early on. We looked much worse later.

Repeat steps 1 through 4 for the 6½ hours that it took to blow in 80 bags of insulation. (We returned 20.)

We do not have a shot of the time the hose, which we had duct taped to the blower because it had the wrong fittings, came off after about the third bag, exploding insulation all over the wall and everything that was sitting by the wall. Fortunately, the blower was relatively empty at that point or it could have made a much worse mess.  I put heavy duty plastic zip ties over the duct tape once I got it put back together, and, thankfully, it held up through the rest of the process.

The initial plan was to have Kaylee help with breaking up the insulation, but wearing a dust mask freaked her out, so she hid out behind the stacks of insulation. I gave her the camera and told her she could take as many shots as she wanted.  I knew about the shots above (I took the one of Mark; I think she took the rest), but I was surprised to find the ones below. LOL

Eventually, Kaylee went inside, coming out whenever she heard the blower shut off, to clean up the empty bags and bring us water or whatever else we needed. She was a terrific helper. :)

I have to say I can’t remember the last time I sweated that much, did that much physical labor, or hurt that bad. I was a total pretzel for the next two days.  It was an agony I hope to never repeat.  But we got through it.  And it does seem to have helped with the air conditioner being able to keep up and keep the house more comfortable on these hot Texas summer afternoons. :)